Internal-combustion engine.



TEN E. HILLHOUSE.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24. I914.

LQQSEQQ. Patented Oct. 16,1917;

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A TTOR/VEY J. TEN E. HILLHOUSE.

,INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24. 1914- 1,%3,229 v Patented" Oct. 16,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- A TTORNEY lllilliilED @Trlfih JOHN TEN EYCK H ILLHOUSE, OE NEWTOWN, GGNNEGTICUT.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTIGN ENGINE.

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Application filed February 24, 1914.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that 1, JOHN TEN EYGK l-lnmnoosn, a citizen of the United States of America and a resident of Newtown, Fair-held county, Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in in srnaLCombustion Engines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

My invention. relates to internal combustion engines and particularly to such as are provided with a movable cylinder head or more than one piston in a single cylinder.

in. engine of the aforesaid character is shown and described in Entz Patent No. LOG-3,520 granted June 3, 1913. The movable cylinder head is connected to be operated by the piston so as to reduce the clearance space at the end of the exhaust stroke ot the engine and to enlar e its space at the end oi the suction stroke. The movement of the head is dependent upon the movement of the piston and cannot be varied independently thereof or relative thereto.

The object of my invention is to provide an engine having a movable cylinder head in the form of a second piston, and simple and effective means for adjusting the cycle of movement thereoi and for providing the relative movement between the two pistons to ti end tnat liquid fuels which differ wide,' in their properties may be successfully utilized in the engine.

Another object is to eit ect a varying movement of either or both pistons of an engine 01" the aforesaid character, during a single stroke or cycle of the. engine whereby the operating characteristics or" the en gine may be varied and controlled as desired.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be set forth hereinafter, and in order that my invention may be thoroughly understood, I will proceed to describe the same in the following specification and then point out the novel features thereof in appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, with the cylinder broken away and shown partly. in section, of an engine arranged and constructed in accordance with and embodying ny invention.

A plan view or the same engine is shown Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented one to, rent.

Serial No. 820,601.

indicate the relative movements of the two pistons are shown in Fig. 3 and are marked (a to inclusive.

Fig. is a view corresponding to Fig. 1,

of an engine which also embodies my inthe movement of either or both of the pistons may be adjusted.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the engine here shown comprises a base 10, a cylinder 12 in which operates a main piston i l and a movable cylinder head or secondary piston 16, a crank shaft 18, a fly wheel 19, a connecting rod 20, and a connecting and actuating mechanism for the secondary piston.

Supported near the forward end of the cylinder is a pivot 25 to which is secured a rocker 2. The secondary piston 16 has a lateral pin projection 17, the end of which extends beyond the side of the cylinder 12 and adjustably connected to the rocker 2T lfV a rod 29 as more fully pointed out hereinafter. T he rocke 2? is provided with a slide block which is arranged to be adjusted by a cam 31 to which it is operati-velv connected by a walking beam 32 and a rod or link The cam is rotatively supported on a shaft 34 and has a toothed periphery 55 which meshes with a gear 36 on the crank shaft. The rocker 27 is actuated when the engine is operating, by rod 38 which is connected atone end to a crank head 39 on the shaft 36 and at the other end to a projection d0 of the rocker. The rod 29 which establishes the connection from the rocker to the secondary piston is connected by a pin 41 to the slide block 30. Consequently when the position of the block is changed the point of connection between the rod and the rocker 27 is adjusted.

The cam 31 is intended to be illustrative of any suitable means for automatically adjusting the position of the slide block 30 during each cycle of the engine and may be formed in various ways to produce just the desired operating characteristics for the engine.

The link connection is not only a means for adjusting the extent and direction of the movement of the secondary piston with re hee t h pr mary Pi n, b t n e b mtion with the cam, serves as a means toraie tomatically changing the rate of movement of the secondary piston with respect to the primary piston while the engine is operating or holding it stationary during a part of the movement of the primary piston.

The operation of the engine will be readily understood from the foregoing description and need not be described in detail. Assuming that the engine is in motion and that the primary piston is moving back and forth producing a uniform speed of rotation of the fly wheel, it is evident t rat the cam will be driven by the gear 36 and will rotate at a speed depending on the gear ratio between these parts. The cam acting on one end of the walking beam 32 will, during each rotation of the cam, produce a predetermined adjustment of the block 30 which will in turn produce a predetermined movement of the secondary piston or cylinder head 16.

It is evident that by varying the gear ratio between the crank shaft and the cam and by varying the shape 01"- the cam it is possible to produce any desired variable movement of the secondary piston. It is this flexibility in the control of the adjustable cylinder head or secondary piston which is one or the most important features or my invention and believe that such an arrangement is entirely original with myself. The terms primary and secondary as applied to the pistons are only used for convenience in difierentiating between them, either may be of primary or both may be of equal importance as operating parts or" the engine.

As an illustration of what may be complished by the use of the mechanism de scribed above, reference may be had to the diagrams of Fig. 3 in which the curve m inclicates the movement of the primary piston and the curve Y illustrates the movement or the secondary piston in each case.

In the diagram a, assuming that the curve starts at the completion or the exhaust stroke, it is evident that the clearance space between the pistons is minimum, thereby squeezing out practically all of the burnt gases. During the suction stroke the pistons separate, and then approach each other, leaving a considerable clearance or combus tion space in which the fuel mixture is compressed. 7

In diagram 79 the clearance space is still very small for the exhaust, the space open for the suction stroke is somewhat less than in the previous diagram but the compression space is considerably less. In this diagram however, the expansion space increases to a maximum after the firing occurs getting an increased amount of work from the engine. Diagram c'corresponds to that of a except that, the secondary piston is held substantially at rest during the greater part of the cycle. 65 shows a modification of diagram 5. As shown in c it ispossihle to start with a ill small exhaust clearance, separate the two pistons to a maximum extent during the suc tion stroke for the purpose of drawing in a large amount of fuel, bring the pistons together for the compression stroke and again separate them during the expansion or working stroke or the engine. In diagram f the pistons move apart during the intake stroke, toward each other during compression until the space between them gives a desired amount or compression, and away from each other from the time of firing until the beginning 01- the exhaust stroke. Tn all of these diagrams the pistons move toward each other during the exhaust stroke until they are very near together at the end of this stroke so as to get very thorough scavenging. V

In the curves illustrated the motions of the secondary piston are merely intended as 8X- amples and it is evident that the motions of the secondary piston may be varied desired in order to produce the best operating conditions for various different fuels, the only change being the substitution of one cam for another.

The structureot the engine may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. For example, I have shown in Fig. l a structure in which the cam 31 is geared to the crank shaft and also constitutes a crankhead to which the rocker 27 is operatively connected by a link 38-h The rocker is provided with a block 30* to which a rod 29- is connected. The adjustment oi"- the block is effected in this modification by a link 50 which is connected to a slide block 51 operating in vertical guideways 52. A walking beam 32' is pivoted at and is connected at one end to be actuated by the cam 31 and at the opposite end to a projection 55 of theslide block 51' by a slot and pin connection 5%. The operation of this mechanism is similar to that of the engine of Figs. 1 and 2, the cam being arranged to efiect the adjustment of the block 30 through the instrumentality of the walking beam 8%, the slide block 51 and the link 50. p I

Referring now particularly to Fig. 5, another modification. of my invention is illus trated according to which an adjustment of the movement not only of the secondary piston but also of he primary piston is effected. The connection forthe secondary piston is substantially the same as that shown in Fig. 1 and need not be described. The primary piston. 14* is, in this arrangement, provided with a projection. and a laterally projecting pin 61, corresponding to the pin 17. A connecting rod 62 is interposed between the pin 61 and a block 64:. This block corresponds to the block 30 and is similarly mounted in a rocker 65. The rocker 65 is pivoted at 65 and is operatively connected to the crank shaft of the engine by means of a connecting rod (57. A cam 69 is geared to the crank shaft and is arranged to adjust the block 6% to which it is connected by a walking beam 70 and a link 71. The cams 31 and (59 may correspond with each other if desired, or they may be entirely different.

i believe it will usually be preferable to adjust only one of the pistons instead of both although as shown in Fig. of the drawings, the adjustment of both of the pistons may readily be provided for.

l have illustrated my invention in connection with only one type of internal combustion engine but it is in no way restricted to any particular type of engine and may be applied and adapted by those skilled in the art, to engines of Various types which are intended for a wide variety of uses. I conse quently only intend such limitations as are found in the appended claims.

lvhat I claim is:

1.. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with a cylinder, a piston, a crank-shaft and a connection for maintaining a fixed relation between the movements of the shaft and the piston, a second piston in the same cylinder, a link motion connection between the second piston and the shaft, and a cam operatively connected to the shaft for automatically adjusting the link motion connection.

2. An internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder, a crank-shaft, two pistons in the cylinder, an operative connection from one piston to the shaft, a link motion connection between the other piston and the shaft comprising a rocker frame, a slide block supported therein, a link connecting said piston to the slide block, a link for connecting the rocker to the shaft, a cam driven by the crank-shaft, and an operative connection between the block and the cam whereby the position of the block is automatically varied du ing the operation of the engine.

An internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder, a crank-shaft, two pistons in the cylinder, an operative connection from one piston to the shaft, a link motion connection between the other piston and the shaft comprising a rocker frame, a slide block supported therein, a link connecting said piston to the slide block, a link for connecting the rocker to the shaft, a cam geared to the crank-shaft, and links interposed between the cam and the block.

a. An internal combustion engine com prising a cylinder, a crank-shaft, two pistons in the cylinder, an operative connection from one piston to the shaft, a link motion connection between the other piston and the shaft comprising a rocker frame, a slide block supported therein, a link connecting said piston to the slide block, a link for connecting the rocker to the shaft, a cam geared to the crank-shaft, and links interposed between the cam and the block, said cam being so shaped as to produce a predetermined adjustment of the block during each engine cycle whereby a predetermined Variable movement is imparted to the piston.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of Feb, 1914, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN TEN EYCK HILLHOUSE. lVitnesses CLARENCE OSBORNE, Howann H. Woomran.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. (3. 

